CRAB NEBULA: FIVE-YEAR OBSERVATION WITH ARGO-YBJ

Journal Article · Sat Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/798/2/119· OSTI ID:22364601

Bartoli, B.; Catalanotti, S.; D'Ettorre Piazzoli, B.; Di Girolamo, T. ^[1]; Bernardini, P.; D'Amone, A.; De Mitri, I. ^[2]; Bi, X. J.; Cao, Z.; Chen, S. Z. ^[3]; Branchini, P.; Budano, A. ^[4]; Camarri, P. ^[5]; Cardarelli, R.; Di Sciascio, G. ^[6]; Chen, T. L.; Danzengluobu, ^[7]; Creti, P. ^[8]; Cui, S. W. ^[9]; others, and

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1. Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università di Napoli "Federico II," Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, via Cinthia, I-80126 Napoli (Italy)
2. Dipartimento Matematica e Fisica "Ennio De Giorgi," Università del Salento, via per Arnesano, I-73100 Lecce (Italy)
3. Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 918, 100049 Beijing (China)
4. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma Tre, via della Vasca Navale 84, I-00146 Roma (Italy)
5. Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università di Roma "Tor Vergata," via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, I-00133 Roma (Italy)
6. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, I-00133 Roma (Italy)
7. Tibet University, 850000 Lhasa, Xizang (China)
8. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Lecce, via per Arnesano, I-73100 Lecce (Italy)
9. Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050016 Hebei (China)

The ARGO-YBJ air shower detector monitored the Crab Nebula gamma-ray emission from 2007 November to 2013 February. The integrated signal, consisting of ∼3.3 × 10{sup 5} events, reached the statistical significance of 21.1 standard deviations. The obtained energy spectrum in the energy range 0.3-20 TeV can be described by a power law function dN/dE = I {sub 0} (E/2 TeV){sup –α}, with a flux normalization I {sub 0} = (5.2 ± 0.2) × 10{sup –12} photons cm{sup –2} s{sup –1} TeV{sup –1} and α = 2.63 ± 0.05, corresponding to an integrated flux above 1 TeV of 1.97 × 10{sup –11} photons cm{sup –2} s{sup –1}. The systematic error is estimated to be less than 30% for the flux normalization and 0.06 for the spectral index. Assuming a power law spectrum with an exponential cutoff dN/dE = I {sub 0} (E/2 TeV){sup –α} exp (–E/E {sub cut}), the lower limit of the cutoff energy E {sub cut} is 12 TeV, at 90% confidence level. Our extended data set allows the study of the TeV emission over long timescales. Over five years, the light curve of the Crab Nebula in 200-day bins is compatible with a steady emission with a probability of 7.3 × 10{sup –2}. A correlated analysis with Fermi-LAT data over ∼4.5 yr using the light curves of the two experiments gives a Pearson correlation coefficient r = 0.56 ± 0.22. Concerning flux variations on timescales of days, a ''blind'' search for flares with a duration of 1-15 days gives no excess with a significance higher than four standard deviations. The average rate measured by ARGO-YBJ during the three most powerful flares detected by Fermi-LAT is 205 ± 91 photons day{sup –1}, consistent with the average value of 137 ± 10 day{sup –1}.

• OSTI ID: 22364601
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 798, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CORRELATIONS
COSMIC SHOWERS
CRAB NEBULA
DIAGRAMS
ENERGY SPECTRA
GAMMA RADIATION
INDEXES
PHOTON EMISSION
PROBABILITY
PULSARS
STARS
TEV RANGE
VARIATIONS
VISIBLE RADIATION